Pianoforte-action



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAS. A. GRAY, OE ALBANY, NEW YORK. v

PIANOFORTE-ACTION.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 8,352, dated. September 9, 1851.

To all whom @'25 may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES A. GRAY, of the city of Albany, State of New York, have invented a new Improvement in Actions of Pianofortes; and I do hereby declare the following specifications, with the drawings attached thereto and forming a part thereof, to be a full and perfect description of the same.

The nature of my invention consists in having an independei'it movable or oscillating shoulder attached to the hammer butt for the hopper to act upon in throwing the hammer against the strings of the piano forte, and also the extension of this shoulder downward so as to connect with a spring.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invent-ion I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct the different parts of the piano forte action, hopper bottom M, hopper H connected to t-he hopper bottom by the center pin at a, flange F, hammer O, hammer' shank IV, &c., in the customary or usual manner but instead of having the shoulder of the hammer buttI for the hoppen H, to act against, detached from the hammer butt, or forming a part of it, I make an independent oscillating shoulder SS, to the hammer butt' Q and connected to it by a center pin at I), and extend it downward to 7c, so as to connect with a spring R, said. spring being useful in keeping the shoulder S, S, in its proper position and in supporting or sustaining the shoulder S, S, and its superencumbent weight the hammer O: in consequence of which arrangement the top of the hopper I-I, is permitted to play freely under the shoulder S; thereby enabling the performer to repeat the blow of the hammer with more celerity, and also to have a more perfect control of the working and power of the same.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is'- In having the shoulder under which the hopper plays attached to the hammer butt by a center pin, forming an independent oscillating shoulder' to the hammer butt, (said shoulder being usually detached from the hammer butt, or composing a part of it).

I also claim the extension of the back part of the shoulder down so as to connect with a spring.

JAMES A. GRAY. Witnesses Sinnnni OTT, CMAS. E. HOYT. 

